Walking on the road, SV's only beacon was the lights coming from the distance. On both of his sides was an all-consuming darkness beyond a few steps. He could not see what lay behind it.
The thought of going deep into the darkness to explore flashed in his mind but was discarded as quickly as it flashed. His goal remained clear.
The barren land gave way to paddy fields cultivated with some plants and crops he didn't recognize. His shoes squelched in the mud as the stone walls of the town were becoming clear.
Finally, he came to a stop in front of the village gates, or to be more precise, the town's gates. He had assumed it was a village, but only when he saw the enclosing stone walls did he understand that it wasn't a village. Fortunately, the gates were open this time. In fact, they weren't just open; they seemed to have been blasted open.
SC raised a nonexistent eyebrow and peered into the town. He could see townspeople moving in the distance, but he couldn't find any guards at the gate. The sight seemed strange to him. Why would they leave the gates open without guards? In fact, why would the townspeople be moving at this late hour?
Well, no matter.
He took his first step and entered the town. Just then, a familiar notification flashed and was immediately followed by another.
[You have discovered Tipeb Town.]
[A quest has been generated.]
SV paused for a moment at the second notification and turned to look at the townspeople. Strangely enough, they didn't seem to register his presence either.
Seeing that no immediate danger was nearby, he opened his quests to take a look. Two quests were there. He naturally skipped the graveyard escape quest and focused on the second one.
[Quest: The secret of Tipeb Town]
[Description: This once-lovely town has turned into a fragment of its past, a moment of its beauty preserved eternally. Discover the source of the curse.]
[Duration: Unlimited]
[Rewards: 200 Exp]
Reading the description, SV finally understood the source of the uncanny atmosphere in the town. Were they recreating a scene from the past? But the detail of how this preservation was implemented remained to be seen.
On another note, the first quest gave him 100 Exp and this one gave 200 Exp, just right to level up. Were they part of the same mission sequence? Probably.
He approached to see what the townspeople were doing.
A woman was carrying a wreath in one hand and a basket of fruits in the other. She moved with a young boy in tow.
She smiled and greeted another woman who had just come out of a house, "□□□□□□!"
Well, that wasn't English.
Another man passed by and shouted at a group of children playing around, "□□□! □□□!" The children seemed to be scared and scattered around.
That wasn't English either.
Farther away were two elderly men joking and laughing with each other, a young man following them from behind and anxiously shouting, "□□□□□!" One of the old men waved him off and continued laughing.
SV had to say again that this game didn't need to be so realistic. How was he supposed to discover anything like this?
For a moment, he had the urge to possess one of them to see if he could learn the language somehow. But he knew that it was very unlikely. Well, the bigger reason was that he didn't want to risk dying to a failed SPR check. He was almost certain he would fail, not to mention that there was still a quarter of an hour remaining on the talent's cooldown.
Suddenly, he was bumped into from behind, causing him to stumble slightly, but the guy behind him wasn't done and kept moving forward, causing both him and the guy behind him to fall on top of each other. The guy stood up like nothing happened, and before he could step on SV further, SV flipped over and kicked him away, causing him to land a meter away.
The guy got up and this time he stared at SV. It wasn't just him; everyone stopped and stared at him.
SV sheepishly raised his hands. "He started it. Not that you guys understand what I'm saying anyway."
He dashed forward and punched the guy in the face, sending him flying. SV flexed his muscles, but when he saw the gathering crowd of townspeople from all directions, he noped and immediately bolted for the gates. Thankfully, the path to the gate was nearly empty, so his escape went smoothly.
As he left the town, he looked behind and found out that they had stopped at the threshold of the gate. SV grinned. "Come catch me. I'm right here." He flipped them off. Unfortunately, they showed no reaction to his taunts.
As SV brought a hand to stroke his beard, the townspeople retreated back, and their movements were becoming smoother by the second. In a matter of minutes, the lively town was back.
SV lowered his hand and stepped into the town again. Just as expected, he was ignored again. He wondered how far he could interfere with their routine. He approached the guy who had bumped into him and gave him a slap to the back of his head, causing him to stumble.
Seeing no reaction, he got bolder and kicked the back of his knee, causing him to kneel and momentarily pause. Still seeing no reaction, he went ahead and put his leg in the guy's path, and while grabbing the back of his neck, he pushed him down forcefully so that he might know the taste of dust.
This time, the people around suddenly stopped and looked in SV's direction. SV grinned and punched the guy's nape, breaking it before quickly escaping.
After a few minutes, he came back and was surprised to see the guy back on his feet like nothing happened. Well, no matter.
Looking around, he found out that they all seem to be heading in a certain direction. He guessed that there might be a festival there or something similar.
He followed the group until they reached a festive square where lamps and ribbons decorated the front of the houses and shops. Green bunting flags hung between trees and rooftops. At the center of it all was a fountain. In its middle was the statue of a bird spitting out water into the basin. The townspeople were laughing and talking.
It all looked very much normal. So SV simply decided to wait and see how this thing was going to develop.
In the meantime, he needed to find some water. He was thirsty and he hadn't found a clean water source yet. Since it was a town, they should have a well somewhere.
Actually, there was a water source right here. He approached the fountain, making sure not to bump into anyone, which was a slightly difficult job because of the dense crowd. Looking at the clear water, he hesitated.
'Is this drinkable?' He scooped a sip into his hand and gave it a try. Just as the water went down his throat, a screen popped up in his eyes, and he froze.
[Your 'Quest: The secret of Tipeb Town' has been completed. Exp +200]
[You have leveled up. Lv1 -> 2. Attributes +1]
Wait, what? He was momentarily nonplussed before he looked at the basin. So, he was cursed just like that? Apart from the slight increase in strength, he didn't feel anything different, though. He checked the logs to see if he had missed anything. But he found nothing.
Confused, he started drinking again. It would have been fine if he hadn't taken a sip before, but now that he did, he needed to quench his thirst, for the sip only served to aggravate his thirst.
Drinking his fill, SV sat on the edge of the fountain and simply waited. Strangely enough, none of the townspeople approached it. There was a clear boundary separating them from the fountain.
The wait was utterly boring, so SV opened up the forum to entertain himself.
[Does anyone know how to speak with these natives?]
Not me, brother; you're all alone.
[Why do you start from zero after every death!]
So it does reset after all. Thankfully, he didn't take risks.
As he scrolled, he didn't see anything about the question mark in the profile panel. Was it just him then? Well, no matter.
SV remained scrolling until he was bored out of his mind. He didn't know how much time had passed. He only knew that apart from the crowd getting denser, nothing seemed to be out of place.
By now, he was only remaining because he felt that if he left and something happened, he would've wasted so much of his time for nothing. Damn sunk-cost fallacy!
Well, if anything was going to happen, it should be about now that the majority of the town was gathered here. So he remained waiting some more.
Thankfully, something finally changed.
The talks and laughs died down as the townspeople made way for a tall figure, a head above the rest, dressed in a luxurious set of brown tunics and pants alongside a black fur-lined cloak. The figure was a middle-aged man walking with great poise and dignity. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, making SV remark that he really was the stereotypical noble character.
If SV were able to understand what the people were saying, he might've figured out the man's identity; unfortunately, he did not.
The man approached the fountain as SV squared up for any eventuality. Thankfully, the man seemed to ignore him too.
He stood in front of the mountain and gave an impassioned speech. It was so passionate that SV might have shed a few tears had he understood what the fuck he was saying. Anyway, he was an outsider to the whole event.
When the crowd erupted in cheers and ovations, the whole speech was finally over. Then, the main event began. The man turned and scooped some water from the fountain and drank it. After him, the crowd formed a dozen lines around the fountain to drink from. SV had to jump into the basin so as to not bump into anyone.
SV noticed that no matter how many people came forward, the water level never seemed to decrease. Apart from that, nothing strange happened throughout the ritual. The people drank, said something to the man, and then left.
It took nearly two hours before the whole thing was over. The square was empty save for the people who were cleaning the square and clearing the decoration. Of course the man was there too. He went to the people and said something before he took his leave. SV followed the man closely. If there was anyone worth following in this town, then it probably was this man here.
The man walked steadily until he reached a mansion. It wasn't big, but it was thrice the size of every other house around it. Not to mention that it was surrounded by walls and had an expansive garden.
SV followed the man into his mansion. There weren't many people in the mansion. Just some maids and a butler. He didn't see any guards either. Neither inside nor outside.
As the man went straight to his office on the first floor, he closed the door behind him and locked it. SV had to prevent the door from fully closing by pushing against it so he could enter in time. Thankfully, the man didn't 'wake up' from his interference.
The man then pushed a bookshelf aside, revealing a tunnel going down. He went in with SV squeezing right after. However, the man turned back, causing SV to stick to the wall to let him squeeze past him. The man then put the bookshelf in place, leaving them in the dark.
Just as SV wondered whether the man was a vampire with night vision, a light illuminated the tunnel. SV kept his position against the wall and looked to see a ball of flame floating on the man's palm. SV raised a non-existent eyebrow as the man once again squeezed against him and ventured deeper into the tunnel.
SV followed right after.